1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to financial transactions and more particularly to credit card imaging.
2. Description of Related Art
Millions of credit card transactions are accurately processed every day regardless of whether the purchaser is making a purchase using a credit card or mobile payment device in his/her home town, in another part of the world, or via the internet. Each transaction has a two stage process: authorization and clearing & settlement. Authorization is the process of approving or declining the transaction at the commencement of the transaction and clearing & settlement is the process of making the payment and accounting for the payment.
The authorization process begins when a point-of-sale terminal (physical for in-store purchases, virtual for internet purchases) obtains a purchaser's account information from a credit card or mobile payment device information and further obtains a transaction amount. The terminal transmits the account information and the transaction amount to an acquirer bank, which combines the account information and the transaction amount into an authorization request. The acquirer bank transmits the authorization request to a proprietary transaction processing network (e.g., VisaNet®), which routes the authorization request to an issuer bank (i.e., the bank that issued the credit card). Alternatively, the proprietary transaction processing network may perform a stand-in review and authorization.
When the authorization request is sent to the issuer bank, the bank, or a designated third party, reviews the request and approves it or denies it. The issuer bank transmits a response to the proprietary transaction processing network indicating its decision. The proprietary transaction processing network forwards the response to the acquirer bank, which in turn, forwards the response to the point-of-sale terminal.
The clearing & settlement process begins with clearing, which, in turn, begins when the point-of-sale terminal, or other merchant processing device, transmits sales draft information (e.g., account numbers and amounts) to the acquirer bank. The acquirer bank formats the sales draft information into a clearing message that it transmits to the proprietary transaction processing network. The network transmits the clearing message to the issuer bank, which calculates settlement obligations of the issuer bank, processing fees, and the amount due the acquirer bank. Settlement begins when the issuer bank transmits funds to a designated bank of the proprietary transaction processing network, which, after processing, transfers the funds to the acquirer bank.
In an alternate credit card transaction processing system, the proprietary transaction network is owned by a single issuer bank. Thus, in contrast with the previously described system, the alternative system includes only one issue bank, not a large number of issuer banks, and, as such, the issuer bank's functions and the proprietary transaction network functions previously discussed are merged. In this alternate system, the processing of the single issuer is less than the multiple issuer system but creates a processing bottleneck due to the single issuer.
The use of mobile payment devices is gaining momentum in the marketplace and consumers desire more features and ease of use. In addition, many traditional credit card users would like similar additional features that allow them to customize their use of credit cards.
Therefore, a need exists for a credit card imaging and applications thereof.